If you don’t already know I will be undergoing the craziest surgery anyone in my immediate family has ever received. Ten years ago I snapped my ankle during gymnastics doing a round off backhand spring in a foam pit. I heard a terrible snap and felt the most outrageous pain. I was carried out of the gym screaming by my neighbor and he took me home.
My mom took me to my pediatrician, Dr. Byrd, the next day. My ankle was x-rayed and t wasn't broken. Dr. Byrd advised me to keep off of it for a few days. What he didn’t know was that today I would literally not have a real ankle left.
After continued re-sprains, swelling, and pain (my whole foot hurts now when I exercise or walk for more than a few minutes) and my constant falling down whenever I walk on uneven surfaces, plus, great insurance, I finally got a referral from my new primary care physician for an ankle specialist. I was referred to Dr. Dalton, foot and ankle specialist/orthopedic surgeon).
Yesterday I had my first appointment. Ten years late.
The nurse took extensive x-rays of my ankle and then, Dr. Dalton came in to examine my left ankle. As it turns out, I have absolutely no ligaments keeping my ankle in its socket which is why I fall down whenever I walk on hills, curbs, uneven concrete, or any surface that’s not perfectly level. I also have a huge spur (a growth off the bone) where my ankle joint has rubbed against each other for so long. Bone spurs are caused by osteoarthritis which means at 26 I have the joint of a 70 year old.
The Doctor said my ankle couldn’t get any worse so if I decided to do nothing I would just keep falling down because ligaments don’t grow back. I have a completely unstable ankle and it would just keep coming out of its socket because nothing is holding it in place. Also, if I did not undergo surgery I would have terrible arthritis as I age which cannot be reversed. I would be Grandma Lerry, but worse.
So the plan is for me to have a cadaver ligament grafted to my bones and then ligaments reconstructed through it. And the spur will be removed. I have pasted a website that has pictures and explains the surgery. It's the most invasive type of surgery, and ankle surgery at all is extremely rare. I wasn’t lying when I said my ankle always hurt.
Lesson of the day: if you sprain your ankle go to a specialist right away. Treatment right away will prevent you from going under the knife.
Scroll to the bottom of the
website to see pics of the surgery. They even show the cadaver ligament.
